Kevin Saldanha's tribute to his dad, Edwin Saldanha, at the Mass held at the Saligao church earlier today (Aug 16, 2007). Just sharing it for those who could not be there... The full church remembered the many achievements of a man who lived a full life, and exploited every talent he had in him. FN
* * * * * Dear friends and relatives, I wanted to thank you all for being here with Diggy and myself today to celebrate the gracious liberation of our Dad from the suffering he endured over the last few weeks due to a gangrenous wound on his foot that he refused to have surgically treated. It was his wish, at 89 years of age, that he would exit this life intact. He understood well the limitations of modern medicine to improve the quality rather than the quantity of life and refused to be coerced into an uncertain, bed-ridden future. I'm also speaking on behalf of my wife, Lisette, and family who very much wanted to be here today, as well as sisters Yvette, Patsy and Jenny and their families. Today is not a day of mourning but one of celebration as Dad lived a full, exciting, productive and influential life and left us exactly as he hoped to… 'with his boots on' and absolutely no regrets. When we were preparing to leave Kenya in the late 60s, my God Father, Uncle Eugene offered to sponsor him and us out to the U.S. to which he replied that his one wish was to 'bury his bones' in Goa. After almost 40 years, that wish will come true as we lower Dad's body into the sandy soil of the Saligao that he loved so much. But I hope no-one has smuggled a 'bangada' into the church… because he irreverently joked with us that if we really missed him when he died, all we needed to do was to dangle a fried mackerel over his coffin to resurrect him. His love for Goa was intertwined with his love for sea-food and his knowledge on buying, cleaning, filleting and cooking fish was legendary. His plaster cast series on local fishes is on display at the Catering College in Porvorim. All of us may feel a deep sense of loss at this time but more importantly, I hope that you share my deeper sense of appreciation, not only for having known and shared time with my Dad but from the values he lived his life by and the skills that he strived to pass on to others. In fact, a few years ago, while he was briefly incapacitated from a fall and recovering at GMC, he was immobilized long enough for us to share one of those rare adult father-and-son moments. We were able to have an earnest discussion about life and death, and while religion and belief were controversial topics of that long discussion, mortality and achievement featured prominently. I asked him what, in his opinion, would be a phrase that would sum up his life – an epitaph if you will. Without hesitation he said it was a desire to help others. This is what probably made him so popular but it hard on my Mum, who although she supported his many philanthropic pursuits, wished he would slow down and enjoy his retirement. There were many a businessman who marveled at the talents he could convert into profits if he only charged appropriately for his various skills like mushroom farming, taxidermy, hatching and raising various types of poultry from common chickens to guinea fowl, ducks, geese, turkeys and even ostriches. There was never a dull moment in the house although sometimes we would find ourselves elbow deep in the entrails of a dead turtle that someone had brought for him to mount. Mum tried to keep up with him but he always seemed to be ten steps ahead. They had a versatile relationship which allowed him to engage in his various pursuits while she kept the home a loving and secure haven for us. While Mum, almost single handedly instilled in us a faithful, religious devotion, Dad imbued us with a spirituality inspired by nature and a morality rooted in service rather than doctrine. And that is what guided all his different endeavours. Fredrick Noronha had written an article about him on the publication of his wine-making book entitled 'The Portrait of an Artist as a Wine-Maker'. That captured a slice of his recent passions but from the time he came back to Goa from Entebbe as a teenager to live with his Grand-mother, he was of service to others, from helping a school mate with his effort on a drawing exam to painting life size portraits of the founders of the Vijaya Ashram where he enjoyed the last few years of his life. His appreciation of their efforts was evident in his compliment that since he couldn't go to Canada, Canada came to him. His philosophy in life was simple – he was always of service to others. His illustrious Scouting career exemplified that ideal both in Kenya and here in Goa. His life-long dedication to teaching, as well as Scouting, was laced with moral values and character development in addition to conveying knowledge. I'm sure each one of you have memories of those qualities and we could spend hours recounting stories. We will have a chance to do just that at a reception that is planned after the interment at the cemetery. Please come back to the church hall for some snacks and refreshments and since we couldn't serve alcohol here, we'll eventually wend our way to home for a real 'Salud' to Eddie, as he was affectionately called. Eddie, at one time, was also known as Brother Saldanha, while he explored his capacity to fulfil the Jesuit vows of poverty, chastity and obedience at St. Paul's High School in Belgaum. It was there that he realized his true calling was not in service to God but to fellow mankind and left the Society to return to the land of his birth –Uganda. However on the way from Mombasa to Entebbe, his brother, Freddy offered him a position as a teacher at Menengai High School in Nakuru and he put down roots there for almost two decades. On returning to Belgaum on a vacation many years later with family in tow, he jokingly elevated his title to Father Saldanha… of five children! You probably know that his brother, the Reverend Father Ernest Saldanha, who has helped concelebrate this funeral service today, has been a pillar of strength and support to the immediate and extended family over the years. I want to take this opportunity to thank him in a special way for his understanding, encouragement and celebration of family milestones over the years. Dad took an early retirement to come back to Saligao and in the process gave us a love for the land of our ancestors that would have been impossible to instill from abroad. Over the years, he was an inspiration to all his children when he encouraged us to take his example of leaving home to pursue our own careers, goals and dreams abroad but keeping Goa close to our hearts. He valued his independence and was adamantly opposed to being sequestered in a home until he realized, a few years ago, that he needed ongoing professional help with his medical needs. However, he also acknowledged his mortal limitations, prodding us with the complaint that his intergalactic passport had been valid for several years, all he needed was an exit visa, which came to him on August 10th. As we go back to our respective lives, let us all make sure our passports are valid for we never know when our visa will come through. As the sign over the cemetery proclaims.. "Aiz Maka, Falia Tuka" -- http://www.goasudharop.org/ebook/34teacher.htm
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